Thirty-four finalists from Grades 4-8 competed in the Gordon Keifer Memorial Spelling Bee held on January 20th at the Lakeside High School Rotary Performing Arts Center. It took a total of nine rounds to establish our district Champion and Runner Up for 2015-16. Katherine Avelar, a fifth grade student at Withrow Elementary (pictured right), was the standing victor following the fifth elimination round. Runner Up Savannah Vargas, Luiseno School, grade 4, pictured with principal Ericka Restad below, won after a separate four-round elimination process. Katherine will represent LEUSD in the Riverside County Spelling Bee this spring, and Savannah is the district alternate should Katherine be unable to participate at the county level. Congratulations to all our contestants and finalists for a job well done!